The weather was gorgeous today. Temperatures were in the upper 40s, but the sun was brilliant and since we’re coming out of the winter months, the 40s felt like 60s. Pepper and I had some pizza at Rosa’s and were heading to a friend’s house for a visit, but she was running late so we had about half an hour to waste in town. Without any shopping to do, we decided to go to the park near Bigfork Bay. We walked around a bit, just enjoying the sunshine and the quiet calm.
We visited our friend, enjoyed some time with her, and wondered what to do with the rest of our day. Given the weather, we felt like it would be a shame to just go back home. So we drove north. We went to the Park with a Capital P, also known as Glacier. Normally it’s pretty much deserted in the off-season, but there was actually a line at the entrance station! I guess the combination of nice weather and a weekend contributed to the crowd. The famous Going-to-the-Sun Road is only open to the north end of Lake McDonald, but the views along the lake shore were fantastic.
The lake was as still as glass, and the clear glacier water let all the wondrous rocks really show off their colors.
Yes, they really are that colorful! They’re far prettier underwater, so I took a shot looking straight down into the lake. It’s incredible how clear the water is; you can’t even tell it’s there.
After several stops along the lake, we opted for a hike up to Sperry Chalet. The round-trip hike is fourteen miles, which was a bit ambitious since it was already late afternoon, but we went a few miles down the trail. Despite the glorious weather, there were patches of snow. The trail was pretty much covered in ice.
Nothing a nice pair of crampons can’t handle! We slipped ours on and headed across the ice. Since the air was warm, the ice was melting so it was not only smooth but covered in a thin layer of water. That’s crazy slippery unless you’re wearing half-inch steel spikes on your feet. With the crampons, the hike was awesome.
After our hike we wandered down to the boat dock near Lake McDonald Lodge and admired the view to the north. Suddenly we heard a low rumble, like thunder. The sky definitely didn’t show signs of a storm, but then I noticed an avalanche rolling down the mountain. In the photo below, the area of the avalanche is right in the center, just above the trees.
I’ve never seen an avalanche in person! Unfortunately my camera was in my pack, so I didn’t have time to pull it out and take a shot while the snow was roaring down the mountain. We just watched in awe.
On the way back we enjoyed dinner at the Gunsight Saloon, and returned home right around sunset. A relaxing soak in the hot tub, while the orange and pink colors reflected on Flathead Lake, was a perfect ending to our day in the parks.